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Post-Phelps: An Olympic sag?
Now that the Big Fish is gone, will interest in the Beijing Olympics wane?
Maybe. Probably. Michael Phelps has been the major draw throughout the first week. His pursuit of a record eight gold medals was the sharp focus on NBC and, apparently, the viewing audience.
Saturday night, when Phelps and his 100m medley relay team churned up the pool for the final gold, NBC’s prime-time audience swelled to 40 million. That peak came at 10 p.m. For the rest of Saturday’s prime time, an average of 31.1 million viewers tuned in.
Not even women’s gymnastics, usually an enormous draw in summer Olympics, could top Phelps.
We’ve still got a few more individual gymnastics events to go, and diving should heat up soon.
But track and field is the main focus from now on, and it isn’t likely to stir up the same passion as swimming. There’s no Phelps in the mix to make history.
And since most of America has been glued to their TV sets since 8/8/08, I’m expecting some Olympics fatigue to set in this week.
I might even change the channel, for the first time in a long time … but just for a minute.
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